TLKII was being considered before the first LK was released

[TheLionPrince]

First, I would like to mention Noahcs, our latest member to join the MLK discussion forum, and applaud his research of interesting production facts and articles about the Lion King films. So, I decided to follow what he does, and I came across an archived article with a rather interesting tidpit of information.

In an article in the Orlando Sentinet reporting the rise of direct-to-video sequels to successful theatrically-released films, it reports Disney was considering a direct-to-video sequel to The Lion King even before the actual movie came out. This article was released in May 1994, by the way.

Here's the archive article: HIGH-PROFILE SEQUELS WILL SKIP THEATERS FOR HOME SCREENINGS. However, you sadly have pay to see the full context of the article.

So, I turned to doing a Google search, and the tidpit of information is under the title, SEQUELS TO HITS GO DIRECTLY TO VIDEO: http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tab=n ... 48&bih=606

Overall, I think it's an interesting find; you could care less, but's it's an interesting find.

[DGFone]

Well, from what I read, the sequel to The Lion King only came into the spotlight after The Lion King did well. Being more of an experiment than a flagship movie, The Lion King was described as either being "the best thing" or a huge flop. This is why there were many discontinuities with other material - The Lion King was made as a stand-alone movie to minimize losses should it fail at the box office.

[Noah]

I feel so flattered you followed in my "pawprints", even more so that you applauded my efforts. Everyone here has made me feel so welcomed!

I had heard that particular fact before. I don't want to steal your thunder though, I just had the original clipping: I almost posted here but ended up just adding it to TLKII's Wikipedia page. because I thought it was too widely known.

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Getting back to the topic at hand, remember that the first teaser trailer (basically just the opening Circle of Life scene) was released to overwhelming praise. In the book "Aristotle in Hollywood", it says: [quote]The trailer of the movie that was shown in cinemas before the premiere was so effective that it brought tears to the eyes of many adults, and in this way it acted as an impressive promise for the movie's emotional experience[/quote]
They even decided to make a video game around this time, a BIG deal for the early 1990s. Disney knew they had a winner. There is a really good Los Angeles Times article from April of that year that goes into more detail about the hype leading up to this film's release. I found it very interesting. Don't worry, the LA Times has all of their articles online for free.

[cleargreenwater]

I am not surprised that Disney was scheming ways to wring every last ever-living cent from it's creations even before it hit theaters.

I don't think it reflects the "righteousness" of SP as much as it reflects the standard business model/rote Disney had in place for all of it's movies in the 90s.

[SimbasGuard]

Great find TheLionPrince.